Oscar Piastri achieved his first career pole position in a closely contested qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix. He edged out Mercedes driver George Russell by just 0.082 seconds to secure the top spot on the grid.
George Russell delivered a surprising lap near the end of qualifying, positioning himself between the two McLarens. Lando Norris will start in third place after ending his final run in Q3 prematurely.
Despite feeling his car`s balance wasn`t perfect during his Q3 lap, Piastri managed to set two lap times that would have been fast enough for pole position. His quickest lap was 1:30.641.
Piastri commented that he found significant pace in Q3, after struggling with the car`s performance in Q1 and Q2. He expressed his satisfaction with his performance at the end of qualifying, even though he felt the pole lap was slightly untidy. He was thrilled to achieve the fastest lap in Shanghai.
Regarding the track surface and managing the tires, Piastri noted the challenging nature of the surface, which caused many drivers to experience instability throughout the weekend. However, he also highlighted the rewarding grip when everything came together.
Russell mentioned that he experimented with a `completely different` approach to tire preparation for his final Q3 attempt. This strategy allowed him to surpass Norris`s best time by 0.070 seconds and take second place from McLaren.
Earlier in the week, Russell had suggested that McLaren had a greater performance advantage over other teams compared to Red Bull`s previous dominance. However, his qualifying performance on Saturday appeared to challenge this assessment.
Current world champion Max Verstappen qualified fourth for Red Bull, followed by Lewis Hamilton in fifth. Hamilton had a strong showing in the Saturday sprint race but seemed to lose some pace in the afternoon qualifying session after teams adjusted their car setups.
Charles Leclerc in the other Ferrari will start sixth. Isack Hadjar, a rookie for Racing Bulls, achieved a noteworthy seventh place.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished eighth, followed by Yuki Tsunoda of Racing Bull in ninth, and Alex Albon of Williams completing the top ten.
Esteban Ocon narrowly missed out on Q3, qualifying 11th for Haas. Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber will start 12th, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll of Aston Martin in 13th and 14th respectively. Carlos Sainz will start 15th for Williams.
Pierre Gasly from Alpine will start 16th, ahead of Oliver Bearman in the Haas and Jack Doohan in the second Alpine in 18th. Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto qualified 19th. Liam Lawson for Red Bull will start last, failing to advance from Q1 for the third time this season.
Lawson was more than a second slower than the fastest Q1 time, increasing the pressure on him in his second race as Verstappen`s teammate. He was overtaken by Pierre Gasly on his outlap, which affected his final preparation for his flying lap. However, his overall performance was still consistent with his struggles as a Red Bull driver so far.
